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5 of the best LTE phones

A quintet of data-snaffling smartphones that make your 3G connection look positively stone age

18 May 2012/20:09BST

While us poor so-and-sos in Blighty are restricted to old school 3G and slightly faster HSPA+ for our mobile data downloads, spawny US-dwellers can experience what most would consider “true 4G”: LTE, which is up to 10 times faster than 3G. You jelly? Feast your eyes on five of the best LTE-compatible smartphones.

HTC Evo 4G LTE

US carrier Sprint’s new flagship phone, the Evo 4G LTE sports a top notch 8MP camera with lightning-quick response time, Beats Audio and Android 4.0 ICS topped off with HTC’s Sense 4 user interface. Its 4.7-inch 720p screen is one of the best we’ve ever laid retinas on, and the kickstand means you can prop it on your desk while you watch YouTube videos in glorious HD. With a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, it’s hugely powerful too.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Another high-end Android phone, the Nexus is Google’s flagship handset and rocks a stock Android interface – in other words, Samsung hasn’t laid its own UI over the top. For many, that’ll be the main selling point, due to the lack of proprietary apps and bloatware, it feels remarkable “clean” out of the box. The 5MP camera is fine – if not up to the highest standards – and the 1.2GHz dual-core processor is speedy

Nokia Lumia 900

The only non-Android phone here, the Windows Mango-based Nokia Lumia 900 is the Finnish firm’s flagship handset and a truly brilliant piece of design: its matte unibody and 4.3-inch AMOLED blend together seamlessly. The tile-based interface is a piece of minimalist loveliness, and the 8MP Zeiss-lensed camera is impressive.

Motorola Droid RAZR

The thinnest LTE phone on the market, the Kevlar-coated RAZR sports an eye-pleasing 4.3-inch AMOLED screen and a custom Motorola interface (atop Android), and thanks to its 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM it won’t let you down in the power department.

HTC One X

Our review of the HTC One X called it “the best Android phone money can buy”, and US users get an even better deal thanks to its LTE compatibility. It offers a similar set of features to the HTC Evo 4G LTE (NFC, 8MP camera, 4.7-inch HD screen, Beats Audio), but a touch more power owing to its quad-core Tegra 3 processor.